Antonios thoughts
Pan-Africanism and society
The principle of Pan-Africanism is
the advocacy of the political union
of all indigenous African inhabitants
of Africa.
Before one can start making
decision on whether Pan-Africanism
is still important or if its still being
advocated till this day, we must
understand the history of Pan-
Africanism and what it means to the
people and our society.
Pan-Africanism started from the
struggles of the African people
against enslavement and
colonization wrote Dr. Tajudeen
Abdul-Raheem. Pan- Africanism can
be traced back to the first resistance
on the slave ships; there were
rebellion and suicides that took
place, from the ship to the
plantations and colonial upbringings,
there was even a Back To Africa
movement in the 19th century. 20th
century Pan-Africanism emerged as
a real political move
Meant initially formed and led by
people who were known as
Diasporas, these were people of
African heritage that lived outside
the continent; in the 1900s a
Trinidadian barrister by the name of
Henry-Sylvester William called a
conference outside of Westminster
Hall, London. The conference was
to protest the stealing of lands in the
colonies, racial discrimination and
deal with other issues of interests to
the blacks.
Many of the scholars and writers
wrote to the leaders of many
European countries and even the
queen of England herself, appealing
racism and grants of independence
for their colonies. An African-
American scholar and writer by the
name of Dr. W.E.B Du Bois who
convinced the first Pan-African
congress in 1919, in Paris, France
and he demanded dependence of
four African nations.
But what impact does Pan-
Africanism have on our society and
how does it affect us. The pan-
Africanism movement was
originally a movement that was
created to unite all black people to
fight racism and colonialism;
however later it converted into
advocating the African unity of
tackling common issues in Africa.
The organization for African unity
(OAU) was formed in 1963. It later
developed into what we now know
as the African union (AU) in 2002.
In todays society pan-Africanism
plays a role in our society greatly,
they have shifted to trying to bring
good governance and quest for
democracy in Africa. The power of
globalization continues to weaken
boundaries of statehood, but many
young people in Africa now are
more aware of their political and
economical situations in their
countries. This is mainly due to the
Pan-Africanism rule of educating the
middle to lower class on the political
happenings of their country.
Pan-Africanism also helps our
continent and all those Diasporas
are maintain our culture. Notice the
amount of our culture transferred
into Western societies no matter
where they live. We have the typical
African-Americans who have very
similar methods of raising their
children as they do in Africa. Of
course some aspects have changed
but over all its still very much the
same. Pan-Africanism tries to keep
the African culture alive for
generations upon generations. It
wants to help educate those Africans
who were not born in Africa but
have African heritage to remember
their culture. There are political
movements as Ligaji, in the UK that
aim to unite and campaign for the
rights of African heritage and the
continent
Arts and culture are essential pieces
of moving through the African
community. Through the use of
things that were from African
history such as Jazz, samba, samba,
salsa, reggae, rap, hip-hop, etc
through these we have help get back
and spread the message of Pan-
Africanism, because as mentioned
before these are distinctively
African-rooted forms and have been
a way for many centuries of the Pan-
Africans advocating their
independence spiritually, through
these items of music and art we
learn our history orally.
Jill Scott Us actress and vocalist
said that We hear so much that's
negative about Africa HIV,
poverty, famine, war. We have that
drilled into us. But the reality is
quite different. We can learn so
much from Africa about respect,
respect for life, respect for family,
respect for communities and respect
for each other as human beings.

We can all be advocates of pan-

Africanism we can help our
continent grow and we can spread
our culture to all African people who
are not in Africa. Just the same way
the whites enforce their cultures and
beliefs in Africa. Africa should take
a stand and support all blacks every
where we are one. There have been
formations of banks all over the
world for just black people; we have
opened beauty establishments, music
companies. Black people and all
people with African heritage need to
unite, because as much as we feel
the world is changing. We will
forever be oppressed and we need to
rise together to bring change upon
African to learn how to not be so
dependant of the whites.

Lets grow together

Rise up Africa.

Reported by Effie Antonio